Across Indiana’s I-65 corridor, between Chicago and Indianapolis, a regional challenge has long persisted: thousands of students graduate each year ready to learn, while employers across key industries—manufacturing, healthcare, construction, and education—struggle to fill open positions. The problem isn’t a lack of talent, but a lack of connection.
At the 2025 CAEL Conference, Eric Davis, CEO of Skyepack, and Kara Webb, Workforce Development Director at Greater Lafayette Commerce, shared how a collaborative model between CAEL, Greater Lafayette Commerce (GLC), and Career+ Pathways™ by Skyepack is bridging this divide.
Their session, “Connecting the Dots: Building Regional Talent Pipelines Through Student-Centered Microcredentials,” outlined how data-driven partnerships, employer engagement, and curriculum-aligned microcredentials can create a sustainable regional talent ecosystem.
The Challenge: Disconnected Pathways
Students are ready to learn. Employers are ready to hire. But the pathways between them are unclear.
Many students lack visibility into local career routes and don’t see how their education connects to real jobs. Meanwhile, employers across the nine-county region report more than 4,000 open positions in key sectors, with many citing difficulty finding workers with the right skills.
Traditional education and training programs often operate in silos—leaving schools, employers, and higher education institutions disconnected from one another.
A Partnership Built on Shared Goals
To address this, CAEL, GLC, and Skyepack’s Career+™ team built a regional partnership model focused on aligning the needs of education, industry, and policy. Each partner plays a distinct role:
- CAEL analyzed industry demand, mapped career pathways, and helped align skill frameworks with local labor needs.
- Greater Lafayette Commerce convened employers through roundtables to co-design work-based learning (WBL) projects and validate the microcredentials that reflect real workplace skills.
- Career+ Pathways™ by Skyepack embedded those microcredentials directly into high school courses such as Preparing for College & Careers, connecting learning to work.
The result: a regional talent pipeline that equips students with in-demand competencies and connects them directly to local career opportunities.
A Network of Regional Partners
This collaborative effort brings together a broad coalition of regional employers, K-12 schools, and higher education institutions.
Partners include leading organizations such as Purdue University and Ivy Tech Community College, along with more than 150+ local employers—including Caterpillar, Subaru, Wabash, Cook Biotech, Lafayette Instrument, and others—plus regional high schools like Jefferson, Harrison, McCutcheon, and West Lafayette.
Together, these partners form the foundation of a connected regional talent ecosystem that links students to real opportunities across the I-65 corridor.
Connecting Learning to the World of Work
Through Career+ Pathways™, students earn microcredentials in Workplace Communication, Leadership, and Next Level Skills while completing 25-hour virtual internships and employer projects.
Each student also builds a 4-year high school plan plus a 2-year postsecondary plan, ensuring a seamless transition from classroom to career.
This student-centered model not only introduces learners to local career options—it also creates a shared “skills language” that employers recognize and value.
Employers as Co-Designers
Employers play a central role in this ecosystem. Through Greater Lafayette Commerce’s convening power, regional companies have collaborated to co-design pathways, validate credentials, and ensure that students’ learning aligns with real hiring needs.
“This process finally aligns student skills with what we actually hire for.”
— Regional Employer, Greater Lafayette Area
This feedback loop has proven critical in building trust between education and industry partners.
Measurable Impact Across the Region
The partnership is already showing results:
These outcomes reflect growing statewide adoption, expanding employer participation, and measurable student engagement.
- 35,441 students across participating schools
- 150+ participating employers
- 49,972 advising and career learning sessions delivered
- 20 schools offering Graduation Pathways aligned with microcredentials
Policy as the Foundation for Scale
Indiana’s Graduation Pathways, Perkins V, and Career Coaching & Navigation initiatives provide a strong policy foundation for this work.
By aligning programs with state-supported microcredentials and WBL standards, the partnership transforms pilot programs into sustainable systems that can be replicated statewide.
Sustaining the Ecosystem
The success of this model rests on one key principle: sustainability through systems, not programs.
By focusing on shared data, continuous improvement, and employer reinvestment, the regional partners are creating a replicable framework for youth workforce development across Indiana and beyond.
Lessons Learned
- Relationships drive results. Collaboration among educators, employers, and intermediaries is the foundation.
- Data builds trust. Shared metrics make progress visible.
- Microcredentials create skill currency. They translate classroom learning into workplace value.
- Policy sustains scale. When state systems align, innovation lasts.
Join the Movement
The CAEL–GLC–Career+™ partnership demonstrates that when communities connect the dots between schools, employers, and higher education, everyone benefits.
By leveraging microcredentials, data, and collaboration, regions can prepare students for meaningful careers while strengthening their local economies. Want to build your regional talent pipeline? Reach out to us!
